4 men shoot wrong person in the leg after trying to kill drug dealer by firing gun through mail slot of door

By Tanya Clark 1:07 PM December 4, 2017

The defendants

Several thugs failed to eliminate a drug dealer after trying to kill him by firing shots through the mail slot of a door, according to police in the United Kingdom.

London police (MET) and the Hertfordshire Constabulary have arrested Anthony McLaughlin, 27, Leon Usher, 39, Christopher Kerr, 31, and Wayne Holness, 23, after being accused of shooting Shaun Smith in the leg.

The gang of 4 men tried to kill Ahmed Oke, a known drug dealer.

All four men have been found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder at the St. Albans Crown Court.

They face up to life in prison.

Michael Smith, 26, has been found not guilty.

According to the police investigation, the shooting incident took place in South Oxhey in Watford.

Detailed analysis of cell phone communication revealed two of the men, Kerr and Holness, had traveled from London to Hertfordshire to carry out the shooting.

Throughout the evening, these men had been in contact with two others, McLaughlin and Usher, who helped plan and arrange the shooting.

The men used a sawed-off shotgun to fire several rounds through the mail slot of Oke’s door.

Oke was not home at the time of the shooting.

Instead, Shaun was shot in the leg.

Shaun had been living in the house temporarily.

A forensic scientist who analyzed the shotgun, ammunition, and the scene of the shooting concluded that it could have caused a fatal injury but this had been avoided by the metal mail slot flap and the fact the victim had been positioned slightly to the side of where the gun was fired.

As a result of the shooting, Shaun spent more than 3 weeks in the hospital and still suffers constant pain in his leg.

Detective Constable Martin Reader of the Met’s Trident and Area Command said: “These four men conspired together to organize the shooting and attempted the murder of a man through the cowardly use of a shotgun pushed through a mail slot. Had it not been for the fact the victim was standing slightly to the side of the front door, this would have resulted in a fatality.”